The Use of Children as Influencers and the Harmful Effects on their Health and Rights as Human Beings

Abstract

With the developments of recent years, "influencers" have appeared in social media. Influencers usually specialize in a specific field or industry, such as beauty, fashion, fitness, travel or food, and are known for their expertise, creativity and originality. They create and share content on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, using their platforms to build a network of loyal followers and establish themselves as thought leaders in their respective fields. Influencers partner with brands to promote products or services to their followers through sponsored posts or collaborations. These partnerships can be profitable for both the influencer and the brand as they can increase brand awareness, drive sales and build brand loyalty, who are in reality celebrities or not who market various products, services and in this way they influence people. Every day more and more influencers have been added in our country, as well as in other countries, and children are included in their work. It has already become normal or tradition for an influential woman to open an "account" for the newly born child, publish photos/videos of the child and gradually start advertising various baby products, influencing the masses. The practice of "kidfluencing" raises ethical concerns about the commodification of childhood, to be seen as products, and for their rights. This is the object of treatment in this paper. Through which it is intended to analyze the rights that are violated to the child and the harmful effects for the child from the "kidfluencing" practice. This topic critically examines the moral dilemmas and challenges in regulating child abuse practices from the perspective of ethics, child welfare and legal protection of the child's best interests, analyzing the implications of the commodification of childhood and the potential harm it can cause.

Received: 2 June 2024 / Accepted: 25 July 2024 / Published: 29 July 2024